2025: Working in Fantastic Learning Systems
I am the founder of Fantastic Learning Systems, an educational service that designs resources focused on critical and creative thinking, as well as other life skills (general capabilities). I also aim to link curricula with the effectiveness of a school’s communications with its parents and the local community. I have run numerous programs in school communities in Perth, Country Western Australia, and Melbourne, as well as in the UK, where I lived between 2009 and 2014. FLS draws on the insights of learning theorists, cognitive linguists, educational philosophers, and performance theorists.
2022 – 2025: English, Humanities & Literacy Teaching
I chose to update my teaching skills by returning to full-time classroom teaching between February 2022 and April 2025. Teaching remains my first love, and my three years at the Grange P-12 College in Hoppers Crossing affirmed the importance of the classroom and school environment. I am grateful for the collegiality of heroic people who deeply understand the social contract teachers share with their communities. I loved the privilege of standing alongside young people and rediscovering the pleasure of being together as we gained valuable insights, acquired hard-won skills, and sometimes encountered mystifying processes. Having first joined the College of Teaching (WA) a generation ago, I humbly submitted myself to updating my Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT – Reg. No.396557) credentials, as I recognised the importance of keeping skills current for working in schools. I stand in awe of what it means to be a teacher.
Feb 2009 – Oct 2014: Theatre Reviewing London Fringe Theatre
Between 2009 and 2013, I immersed myself in the London theatre scene, attending a wide array of productions across the city. My viewing spanned diverse venues, from established houses like the Old Vic, Young Vic, The Globe, Barbican, and Almeida to prominent fringe theatres such as the Blue Elephant, Union Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Finborough, Arcola, and Tristan Bates Theatre. During this period, I actively reviewed numerous productions, particularly focusing on London’s vibrant fringe theatre, documenting experiences at venues including the Blue Elephant, Union Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Greenwich Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, and Tristan Bates, among others. This extensive engagement provided a comprehensive understanding of contemporary London theatre, encompassing both mainstream and independent productions.
2008 & Continuing: Curriculum Writer
I am the founder of Fantastic Learning Systems, an educational service that designs resources focused on critical and creative thinking, as well as other life skills (general capabilities). I also aim to link curricula with the effectiveness of a school’s communications with its parents and the local community. I have run numerous programs in school communities in Perth, Country Western Australia, and Melbourne, as well as in the UK, where I lived between 2009 and 2014. FLS draws on the insights of learning theorists, cognitive linguists, educational philosophers, and performance theorists.
Three Examples of Textbook Publications (1998 – 2010)
2002 – 2008: Creative Director, Biscuit Factory Arts Centre
kNOw nonSENSE DRAMA LITERACY & PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM
WordPlay’s kNOw nonSENSE INTEGRATED PROGRAM for 4 to 12 year olds uses strategies in DRAMA, LITERACY AND PHILOSOPHY to explore THE ARTS,
THE SCIENCES & OTHER LEARNING AREAS. It begins with an exploration of the five senses and then takes off by looking at amazing and crazy inventions, how the Arts and the Sciences allow us to see the world in new and different ways.
Example Annual Program: The program uses live performance, video and audio recordings, terrific texts and animation to investigate knowing the facts and make-believe about our very real and the highly attractive make-believe worlds.
The kNOw nonSENSE PROGRAM also looks at the world of games and sport. Are games a form of ‘make-believe’? Are video games interested in showing us something about the real world or are they purely for entertainment?
Join the WORKSHOPS for
A) Zing! Bang! Pop! An exploration of ordinary sights and sounds and
- imaginative ways of seeing and hearing & playing with light and sound;
- how our eyes and ears play tricks on us; and
- how sights and sounds work with and against each other to make sense or
nonsense.
B) Gibberish, Jokes and Other Funny Stuff: An investigation about speaking and
listening and how
- we say serious and funny things
- we say one thing but and really mean something else
- we draw attention to ourselves through what we say and how we say it
- the human voice can be amplified, distorted and made clear.
C) Illuminate: An investigation of how we deal with TIME to
- we remember the past,
- reflect on the present ,
- have visions of the future.
WordPlay Theatre for Young People: Performance opportunities & events for showing off the imagination and talents of our young people. We have planned some major events through which our kids can have the experience of working towards public performances. However, please remember that they are not mandatory and that the main aim is for young people to take on the challenge of performing before different audiences confidently.
Creativity Café for parents
As a parent I know that we are often inundated with conflicting
information and ‘research results’ about education in general and
bringing up children in particular. My belief is that the unravelling of
ideas and experiences about both should be done in ‘good company’
so that we can enjoy our collective and individual responsibilities of
nurturing creative young people. The Creativity Café is about the FUN
of bringing up kids and getting in touch and sifting through the ‘latest
and greatest’ information about arts education and the importance of
creativity as a way of life!
Jan 1990 to Dec 2004 Researcher & University Lecturer
UWA, CURTIN UNIVERSITY, ECU (Churchlands & Mt Lawley)
Doctoral Research, University of Sydney
I’ve published theatre history, theatre reviews and drama education under the names Josey De Rossi, Josephine De Rossi, Josephine Fantasia. I recently prompted Gemini Advance Deep Research to compile my online work from 1992 onwards. You can review the report here:
Online Presence and Contributions in Theatre and Drama Education
1976 – 1991: Teacher
I have had several opportunities to teach in schools, balancing my family life and writing passion, for instance, at Maddington Primary School, John Curtin College For The Performing Arts, and City Beach Senior High School. I have also had the pleasure of teaching in CEO schools of Newman College, Sacred Heart College and St Joachim’s High School (now known as Ursula Frayne College). To round off my teaching experiences as a young teacher, I worked for one year each at All Saints’ College and Perth College.